By Kelly White
Hobby enthusiasts were out in full force.
They gathered at none other than the Orland Park Public Library, 14921 S Ravinia Ave., for its first-ever Hobby Fair on July 22.
“It’s great that we are bringing people in our community together with their interests,” Mary Adamowski, Orland Park Public Library Director, said.
For the fair, staff members invited several local hobbyists to set up tables at the library to demonstrate their interests, with a goal of helping patrons find their next great pastime.
The library’s Summer Reading Challenge theme, Find Your Voice, is about the sounds we make, the words we write, the movements we perform, and the actions people take each day. By extension, this hobby fair helped people do just that – find their hobby.
“In this fast-paced world, it is important to find things that make you happy and help you build your skills,” Jackie Boyd, Communications Manager at the Orland Park Public Library, said. “Libraries are for studying and researching, but libraries are also for personal enrichment. Not everything has to be a skill that can be monetized.”
Boyd explained that the library actually lends a lot of items that help patrons try out new hobbies.
“We have a sewing machine. We have baking pans,” Boyd said. “We have a gardening kit. We even lend fishing poles. The hobby fair has been a good excuse for us to talk about our Library of Things collection.”
More than 600 people stopped by the for the fair, that staff members have been planning for the past three months.
Patrons that visited the library were able to walk around and visit each table where hobbyists demonstrated and talked about what it took to get into their hobby.
Some of the hobbies included: bead weaving, miniature automobile collectables, cross-stitch, scrapbooking, jewelry-making, Palestinian embroidery, gardening, Palestinian folklore dancing, golf, puzzles, collecting Pokémon trading cards, and modern and retro video gaming.
“It was really important for us to feature hobbyists from Orland Park and the surrounding communities, because this is a hobby fair by Orland Park for Orland Park,” Boyd said.
Teens could also share their hobbies and earn service hours while doing so.
“We could not make big events like this happen without the help of our Teen Volunteers,” Brandi Smits, Youth Services Manager at the Orland Park Public Library, said.
This hobby fair also gave the library a wonderful chance to talk about the library’s Tech Center, where library patrons had the opportunity to use a 3D printer, a Glowforge, and a Cricut Maker any day of the week. Patrons were able to make all sorts of things with the 3D printer for a small fee of 10 cents per gram of filament used in the project. (Filament is the 3D material that the 3D printer uses to make the objects that it prints). The Glowforge etches wood and other materials. Patrons have made all sorts of coasters, book marks, house number signs, gifts, glass decorations, and metal engravings with the Glowforge.
“I hope the hobby fair is received really well, and I hope people find something for themselves,” Sarah Kleiva, Community Engagement Manager at the Orland Park Public Library, said.
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